


Don't Trust Natasha

by anarchychaos



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Tattoo Parlor, M/M, Tattoo Artist Steve Rogers, War Veteran Bucky Barnes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-31
Updated: 2017-03-31
Packaged: 2018-10-13 03:58:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10505910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anarchychaos/pseuds/anarchychaos
Summary: In which Bucky gets his first tattoo, Steve gets a new roomate, and both are equally flustered





	

Bucky walked into the tattoo shop, already sweating. He had told the guys that they would get matching tattoos once the rest of them got back from deployment, but, to be fair, he had never gotten a tattoo before, and he had been drunk of his ass when he made the promise. 

Then, a few weeks later he had gotten hit by an IED, and gotten an honorable discharge after losing his left arm.

So, he had figured that his friends wouldn’t pressure him into getting a tattoo after that, but, two years later, he was doing fine, he had a new prototype arm from Stark Industries (Bucky was pretty sure he had gotten bumped to the top of the list because a. Natasha had connections and b. the IED that had hit him had been made by Stark Industries(before they left the weapons business in favor of protection, medicine, and peaceful engineering)). 

The rest of the gang had been back for months. It was a shock they waited this long, really.

Natasha pulled him over to the counter, grinning like crazy. “Don’t worry, Bucky, you’ll be fine! It’s not even that bad!”

Bucky grumbled. easy for her to say, she already had plenty of tattoos. You couldn’t see them, however, unless she wore low backed dresses or crop-top shirts, or, unless you were cleaning out a wound, as Bucky had been doing when he first saw one of her many tattoos. 

“Besides!” Sam said from Bucky's other side “We know Steve. It’ll be fine, we’ve all gotten tattoos done by him before,”

“Mmm,” Bucky said, noncommittally, as he watched Natasha talk to a short guy facing away from him. “Where’s Clint?” Bucky said, attempting to change the subject.

Right at that moment, Clint practically fell into the shop, carrying two coffees in his hands, and a paper bag between his teeth. He had a bandage across his nose, another on his eyebrow, and a dark bruise around his eye.

Bucky looked at him and cocked his eyebrow as Clint handed Sam the bag and passed a coffee to Natasha.

“Hey,” Clint said, before taking a huge drink of the other coffee, before sighing in content.

“Hey,” Natasha said, kissing Clint on the cheek and looking at his face. “Your eye seems a bit better,”

Clint nodded “Where’s Steve?”

“Back room,” Sam said around a mouthful of muffin. Bucky held his hand out, motioning for a piece, but Sam made a protective noise and curled around it, shaking his head. Bucky rolled his eyes, and turned around, looking over to where Natasha was showing a sketch to who Bucky assumed was Steve and...wow. Bucky was going to kill Natasha.

*****

Steve was going to kill Natasha.

When Natasha had scheduled an appointment with him, telling him that a few other people were going to come in with her to get matching tattoos, Steve didn’t think much of it. He had done almost all of Natasha’s tattoos, even covering up some bad ones and scars for her. He had just added Sam, Clint and someone called Bucky to his list, and went about with business.

But, once they came in, he was greatly unprepared for just how perfect Bucky was. When he got a good look at him, Steve had immediately flicked his eyes down to the ground, trying very hard to keep from blushing, and keeping his face expressionless.

Bucky had gone second, after cautiously watching what Steve was doing, and whimpering a little when Natasha started bleeding. Steve had cocked his eyebrow, and glanced at Natasha. “Bucky’s never gotten a tattoo,” she had explained, breathing through her nose. 

Now, Bucky was sitting in Steve chair, shirtless, and holding Natasha’s hand dangerously tight, as Steve outlined a medium-sized piece on his shoulder blade. Steve was trying to avoid the scarring around his shoulder, as that would hurt worse, but it was a little hard. Natasha had quietly explained to him that Bucky had lost his arm, gotten an honorable discharge, and a state-of-the-art prosthesis, and that he was was a little nervous about the positioning of the tattoo, Steve had agreed to avoid as many sensitive areas as possible, and that had been it.

Steve wiped away a little blood, and sat back, looking at Bucky. “Do you need to take a break?”

Bucky shook his head vigorously “It’s okay. I’ve had worse,”

Steve could believe it, and he had a feeling that it wasn’t so much the pain that was bothering Bucky, but the wide expanse of terrifying looking tools, and the amount of tattooing that could end up on his scars. 

Steve finished within a couple hours, and gave Bucky instructions on how to take care of it and such, before beginning to clean up, explaining that the shop would be closing soon, and that Clint and Sam would have to some in the next day.

Sam then decided that they should all go out to eat, once Steve had finished cleaning up. They waited for him outside, and walked down to Stan’s bar and grill, and if Steve walked a little too close to Bucky than what was probably polite, that wasn’t his fault, right?

*****

Bucky was dead. It was unavoidable. Steve was so adorable and perfect and (as Bucky was learning) incredibly stubborn.

“C’mon, Steve,” Sam pleaded

“Sam, I told you, I’m fine. It’s nothing to worry about,”

Sam and Steve were currently arguing about Steve’s neighborhood. Steve had apparently gotten beaten up twice in two weeks, and, now that Bucky was looking, he could see leftover traces of a black eye and a split lip.

“Steve. One day, you are going to die living there. Just move in with me, Riley moved into my room-”

“Finally,” Clint interjected, leaning on Natasha’s shoulder.

“-so we have an extra bed, and, with three people, it’ll be cheaper than where you're living now,”

“Thanks, but I’m good. You and Riley are still in the honeymoon stage, and I don’t want to know what that entails,” Steve said.

“You could move in with me,” Bucky said, automatically hating himself. He kept talking, the words spilling out. “Brock got evicted, so I have an extra room, and am in deep need of a roommate, unless I pick up a second job,” 

“Brock got evicted?” Natasha asked, sitting up, much to Clint’s dismay. “Why?”

“He got arrested.”

“For what?”

“Uh. Well…”

“James,” Natasha said dangerously, and Bucky winced. She never used his first name unless he was in deep, deep trouble.

“Breaking and entering, and armed robbery. Two counts of each, actually.”

Sam whistled, and Steve grew wide-eyed. Natasha glared. “I told you to hold out for someone better,”

Bucky shrugged “He was the only one willing to share an apartment with a vet. He was gone most of the time, anyways,”

“Yeah, he was too busy robbing people,” Steve muttered, and Bucky smiled at him warmly. Steve’s stomach did backflips. Goddammit. What was Bucky’s right, being so fucking perfect?

*****

What was Steve’s right, being so fucking perfect?

Two weeks had passed since Steve had done Bucky’s tattoo, and it had healed nicely. Bucky liked it, although he would never tell Natasha that. She seemed to take pleasure in his discomfort, telling her he liked his tattoo would lead to her getting him to get more.

Today, they were going out bowling. Which, ugh. Natasha would never let him live down the night he tried to go bowling right after getting his new arm, grabbed a ball, and bowling with his left arm, only to throw the ball into the ceiling. They never went back to that place.

By the time Steve showed up, the rest of them were already there, and had bowled one game, starting in on their second. Bucky had opted to just watch this one, to save himself the embarrassment of losing a second time.

Steve walked in, hair a little ruffled, and looking extremely stressed out. Clint had offered to add him in, but he had waved it off and asked Bucky if he could talk to him.

“Hey, what’s up?” Bucky asked, after Steve pulled him into a corner, away from the group. 

“Do you still need another roommate?” Steve looked wary, and thinly warn.

“Uh, yeah. Is everything okay?”

Steve sighed, and wiped a hand across his face. “I got evicted.”

Bucky raised an eyebrow “Why?”

Steve shrugged, not meeting Bucky’s eyes. “Too many fights, I guess.”

“Steve. Your bullshitting. What really happened?”

“There wasn’t a reason on the notice, but my landlords a known homophobe. I just don’t know how he would really know, and I could sue but I don’t have money, and I don’t want to go back there anyways-”

“Steve,” Bucky grabbed his shoulders, and waited for him to make eye contact. “It’s fine, when can you move in?”

“Uh, I have until the end of the week,”

“It’s Monday,” 

Steve shrugged.

Bucky looked up, and nodded. “Alright. I can get you signed on in a couple of days, but I’m free Wednesday, how about we move your stuff in then?”

Steve’s eyes widened, and he visibly relaxed. “Are you serious? Oh my god, thank you!”

Bucky nodded “What time should I show up to your place?”

“Huh?”

“I’m gonna help you move. I mean, if that’s okay,”

“Oh, yeah, no, I just wasn’t expecting you to offer to help. Thank you,”

Bucky smiled, and gripped Steve’s shoulder once before letting his hands fall. “Would around eleven work?”

“Sure!”

Bucky smirked a little, and glanced towards their friends. “So, you wanna go bowl?”

Steve shook his head, but started walking over towards their friends. “Nah, I suck at bowling,”

“Me too. Did Natasha ever tell you about the first time I tried to bowl with the new arm?”

“No, what happened?” Steve sat down, and Bucky plopped down next to him.

Bucky began to tell the story of how the threw a bowling ball through a roof, and then Steve began to talk about how, when he was younger, he had gotten his finger gotten caught in the bowling ball when he tried to roll it, and the ball had dragged him along for the ride. They kept talking until their friends were done bowling, and then the went out to eat. Steve and Bucky kept talking, and Bucky went home unable to stop smiling, with Steve’s number written on his arm.

*****

Bucky called Steve the next day, right after Steve had finished up with his second client. 

“Hey,” He said, trying not to smile.

“Hey, you're on the lease! We’ll get you moved in tomorrow and it’ll be all set!”

“Alright, cool!” Steve waved at Natasha as she walked in, and motioned for her to wait in the lobby area.

“Listen, I gotta go, works kinda crazy. See you tomorrow!” Bucky hang up the phone, and Steve realized that he had no idea what Bucky did. Huh. He would have to ask Natasha later.

Later, he cleaned up, went home, and started packing his stuff up, all while telling himself to ‘be cool’ around Bucky, preparing for the next day.

*****

“Okay,” Bucky said to himself, pacing around in front of Steve’s door. “Be cool. Don’t fuck this up. Okay,” Bucky squared his shoulders and knocked on the door. He hadn’t been this nervous since he had decided to ask Alice Peterson to dance back in Junior High. Steve was moving in today. Oh my god-

“Hey, Buck,” Steve said, standing in front of Bucky, the door having opened without Bucky noticing. 

“Hey!” Bucky said, looking past Steve at the boxes stacked up. “You started packing?”

“Yup,” Steve said, stepping aside so Bucky could walk in “I started last night, I think I’ve got everything,”

“Alright, what do you wanna take down first?”

It didn’t take long for them to get everything down to the truck, and Bucky sang along to the radio, hitting the sides of the steering wheel, pretending to be playing the drums. Steve laughed, and Bucky decided it was his job to make him laugh like that all the time.

*****

Bucky was laughing, and Steve decided that it was his job to keep him laughing as much as possible. 

They had finished moving everything in, and were laying on the couch, watching Keeping Up With the Kardashians reruns, and making fun of the insane family.

Kim started crying again, and Bucky laughed so hard there were tears in his eyes, and Steve couldn’t help but shake his head. Bucky’s air conditioning wasn’t working, and so they were both way to hot for their own comfort. Bucky, being as perfect as he was, had taken off his shirt and __god__ , it wasn’t fair. 

Steve looked away from Bucky's muscular chest, and poked him with his foot. “Shut up!”

Bucky kept laughing “I can’t! Just look at her!” He kept giggling, and Steve looked at the tv. Kim kept crying. Steve got up. “I’m gonna get some ice cream,” 

“Ooh, me too!” Bucky called, still crying a little. 

“Not until you calm down,” Steve said, pretending to scold Bucky.

“I promise I’ll be good,” Bucky said, standing up, pressed close to Steve.

“Yeah?” Steve asked, his eyes flicking down to Bucky’s lips.

“Yeah,” Buck said, pupils blown, looking at Steve with wide eyes.

Steve leaned up and pressed his lips to Bucky’s.

*****

“Steve?” Bucky said, from where he lay sprawled out on the bed.

“Yeah, Buck?” Steve answered, raising his head from where it was resting on Bucky’s chest.

“You do realize that if we hadn’t been so stupid, and admitted that we were into each other, we wouldn’t have had to carry your bed up five flights of stairs,”

Steve groaned, letting his head flop back down onto Bucky's chest. “I’m never moving. Ever. You're stuck with me.”

“Fine by me,” Bucky said, pressing a kiss to Steve’s head.


End file.
